More
than 200 wildfires are burning across the country, with the majority
of those ablaze in British Columbia, which has had one of its worst
wildfire seasons in 60 years.

A
team of 80 firefighters from
New Zealand this
week joined the close to 3800 personnel already working to contain
the fires.

Pilot
Stephen Boyce has already spent 10 days helping douse an area of over
90,000 hectares of land, which is the equivalent of the entire
Auckland district, and only one of four sections of the Elephant Hill
Fire.

He
took leave from his role at Oceania Aviation Group in Auckland to
travel to Canada to help the helicopter crews, as the company often
deals with businesses in Canada.

Soon
after he arrived, it become clear the fires were unlike anything he
has ever faced before.

"The
visibility and flying conditions are the worst I have experienced on
fires in 25 years.

"If
we haven't got really strong winds and high temperatures, we've got
almost no wind and high temperatures and thick, dense smoke, which
can be virtually impossible to fly in."

He
said the smoke cover extended up to 3000 feet above ground and was so
thick it blocked out the sun.

"The
sun is so obscured that it is the colour of a blood orange all day.
You can openly stare at the sun in the middle of the day ...
everyone's working in this apocalyptic twilight."

The
"apocalyptic twilight" conditions firefighters are working
in in British Colombia. Photo: Supplied / Stephen Boyce

In
the past few days the mercury soared significantly, reaching up to
37°C in the cockpit.

The
heat, and working over 12 hours every day, was exhausting, but worth
it.

"It's
been physically draining for the last few days ... there's a lot of
pollution in the air, so as you're flying your eyes are stinging."

He
said the priority was stopping the fire spreading and protecting
homes, farms, livestock and infrastructure, like powerlines and gas
lines, from the blaze.

Any
hope of putting the fire out before temperatures drop was already
lost.

"In
my experience and that of the pilots here, we've never seen anything
like this.

''This
fire will be going until the first snow, so once the weather
conditions physically change into fall or winter, that's when the
fire will technically be over.

''There's
just so much of it, what we're doing right now is just trying to
contain it."

Heat
wave scorches the Pacific Northwest

7 August, 2017

A remarkable heat wave
brought rare extreme heat to the Pacific Northwest of the United
States. Daily records fell by the wayside in Washington and Oregon as
the searing summer sun caused temperatures to easily rise past 100°F
in many inland locations in early August.

Daytime
high temperatures across the Pacific Northwest United States on
August 3, 2017. NOAA Climate.gov image using data from NOAA’s
Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA).

The
map above shows the daytime high temperature across the Pacific
Northwest on August 3, 2017, using data from NOAA’s Real-Time
Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA). August 3 represented the peak of the hot
streak as daily temperature records fell like bowling pins. There was
variation in the heat due to the Pacific Northwest’s varied
terrain, but the temperatures were still was remarkable from the
coastal plain to inland areas.

The
heat was caused by a high pressure system in the atmosphere, which
helped keep skies free from clouds and allowed the sun’s energy to
heat the surface. In Portland, Oregon, temperatures reach 105°F at
the airport and 103°F downtown, breaking records set in 1952. Salem,
Oregon, reached 103°F on date. Eugene, Oregon, topped out at 102°F.
These also set daily temperature records. Medford, Oregon, soared to
112°F, only a few degrees below its all-time record. Farther north
and closer to the water, Seattle reached 91°F and 94°F setting,
breaking, and re-setting the heat record on August 2 and 3.

As
temperatures soared, smoke from wildfires to the north in British
Columbia wafted south and casted a hazy hue across the region. The
smoke reduced air quality, but had the positive side-effect of
lessening the heat by reflecting some of the sun’s energy.

While
temperatures in the low 100s may seem commonplace for somewhere like
Arizona, the Pacific Northwest isn’t prepared for the heat. It is
not uncommon to find residences without air conditioners. During
extremely hot days and still warm nights, this can cause health
concerns.

Human-caused
climate change will not make things better. Summer temperatures
across the Pacific Northwest have already risen at a pace of 0.2°F
per decade since 1895 according to NOAA’s Climate at a Glance tool.
And according to the National Climate Assessment, depending on how
large our greenhouse gas emissions will be during the next century,
temperatures are projected to increase by 3-10°F by 2100 (compared
to 1970 to 1999) and be largest in the summer. Summer heat can be
deadly. For more tips on how to stay safe in the heat, head over the
National Weather Service’s page on heat safety or explore the Heat
Health section of the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit.

July
Was Record Hot for

Parts of Alaska and the

West

The
northernmost city in the United States just had its hottest July on
record, as other spots in Alaska had their hottest month overall.
Heat records also fell in a few western cities, as well as the
fearsomely hot Death Valley, where July was the hottest month ever
recorded on Earth.

Those
hotspots stood out in what was the 10th hottest July on record for
the Lower 48 states, topping off the second hottest year-to-date for
the country by a hair, according to data
released Tuesday
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Three states
are having their hottest year on record more than halfway through the
year, while several more are running in second or third place.

Monthly
records for temperature and precipitation set in July in
Alaska.Click
image to enlarge. Credit: NOAA

While
weather patterns have a big impact on monthly temperatures — as the
cooler weather of early August shows — the overall warming of the
planet is tipping the odds in favor of record heat. In fact, July had
four times as many daily record highs as record lows, according to
meteorologist Guy
Walton,
who keeps track of such streaks using NOAA’s data.

The
record heat in Alaska fell along the North Slope, which lies above
the Arctic Circle, and the central interior of the state.

For
the North Slope, “a fair chunk” of the heat could be attributed
“to the very early loss of sea ice” that normally clings to the
coast until August and keeps temperatures lower, Rick Thoman, climate
science and services manager for the National Weather
Service’s Alaska
region,
said. “There’s basically now no sea ice left within 200 miles of
Alaska.”

That
early loss of sea ice was followed by storms that pulled up warmer
air from the South, pushing the average July temperature in Utqiaġvik
(Barrow) to 46°F. While that may not sound like summer weather to
the rest of the country, it is 5°F above the long-term average for a
city perched at the same latitude as the middle of the Greenland ice
sheet.

In
the interior of the state, there weren’t any significant heat waves
during the month, but there also weren’t any cool days because of a
lack of of cloudy, rainy weather, Thoman said. Instead, the month saw
“this grinding, day-after-day” warmth.

Bettles,
Tanana and McGrath all had not only their warmest July, but also
their warmest month on record. The first two towns had average
temperatures about 5°F above normal, while McGrath’s was 3.7°F
above normal. Fairbanks had its fourth warmest July on record. The
state overall had its third warmest July.

The
North Slope will continue to be warm for the next few months as the
sea ice will be gone until it begins to refreeze in the fall, Thoman
said.

July
Was Record Hot for Parts of Alaska and the West

The
northernmost city in the United States just had its hottest July on
record, as other spots in Alaska had their hottest month overall.
Heat records also fell in a few western cities, as well as the
fearsomely hot Death Valley, where July was the hottest month ever
recorded on Earth.

Those
hotspots stood out in what was the 10th hottest July on record for
the Lower 48 states, topping off the second hottest year-to-date for
the country by a hair, according to data
released Tuesday
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Three states
are having their hottest year on record more than halfway through the
year, while several more are running in second or third place.

Monthly
records for temperature and precipitation set in July in
Alaska.Click
image to enlarge. Credit: NOAA

While
weather patterns have a big impact on monthly temperatures — as the
cooler weather of early August shows — the overall warming of the
planet is tipping the odds in favor of record heat. In fact, July had
four times as many daily record highs as record lows, according to
meteorologist Guy
Walton,
who keeps track of such streaks using NOAA’s data.

The
record heat in Alaska fell along the North Slope, which lies above
the Arctic Circle, and the central interior of the state.

For
the North Slope, “a fair chunk” of the heat could be attributed
“to the very early loss of sea ice” that normally clings to the
coast until August and keeps temperatures lower, Rick Thoman, climate
science and services manager for the National Weather
Service’s Alaska
region,
said. “There’s basically now no sea ice left within 200 miles of
Alaska.”

That
early loss of sea ice was followed by storms that pulled up warmer
air from the South, pushing the average July temperature in Utqiaġvik
(Barrow) to 46°F. While that may not sound like summer weather to
the rest of the country, it is 5°F above the long-term average for a
city perched at the same latitude as the middle of the Greenland ice
sheet.

In
the interior of the state, there weren’t any significant heat waves
during the month, but there also weren’t any cool days because of a
lack of of cloudy, rainy weather, Thoman said. Instead, the month saw
“this grinding, day-after-day” warmth.

Bettles,
Tanana and McGrath all had not only their warmest July, but also
their warmest month on record. The first two towns had average
temperatures about 5°F above normal, while McGrath’s was 3.7°F
above normal. Fairbanks had its fourth warmest July on record. The
state overall had its third warmest July.

The
North Slope will continue to be warm for the next few months as the
sea ice will be gone until it begins to refreeze in the fall, Thoman
said.

In
the Lower 48, Bakersfield, Calif., Reno and Salt Lake City also had
their hottest July on record thanks to high-pressure ridges
that helped
temperatures soar and
break several daily heat records across the region. The hot, dry
weather also helped
fuel wildfires that
erupted and spread rapidly across the region.

Miami
was also record hot for
not just July but for any month, fueled both by the number of days
above 90°F (every day of the month but the last was that hot or
hotter) and the fact that temperatures stayed extremely warm
overnight.

Death
Valley, already known for its ferocious heat, took it to another
level in July, with an average for the month of 107.4°F, the
Washington Post’s Capital
Weather Gang reported.
Overnight lows were again a major factor, as they didn’t fall below
89°F on any night during the month there.

Three
nights actually had a low temperature between 102°F and 103°F.
Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist at the International Arctic
Research Center in Fairbanks, found this was the hottest month
recorded at any station in Global
Historical Climatology Network database
kept by NOAA.

The
heat out West pushed the temperature for the month for the contiguous
U.S. to 2.1°F above the 20th century average of 73.6°F. That
temperature kept 2017 just barely in second place for the year to
date, with a temperature 3.2°F above the average of 51.3°F for that
period.

How
year-to-date temperatures in states across the contiguous U.S. ranked
through July 2017.Click
image to enlarge. Credit: NOAA

The
cool start to August east of the Rockies, and the suggestion that
that pattern will continue for much of the month, could knock 2017
down to third place, Jake Crouch, a climatologist with the National
Centers for Environmental Information, said.

At
the state level, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida are all
having their warmest year to date. In April, aswath
of 14 states from
the mid-Atlantic to Texas was on record pace, but cooler temperatures
in May knocked several out of the running, though they are still
having their second or third warmest year on record so far.

While
weather patterns played a clear role in boosting temperatures in many
parts of the country, the overall rise in average temperatures caused
by greenhouse gas emissions has made record heat more and more likely
and record cold increasingly rare.

Every
month since December 2014 has had more record highs than lows,
according to Walton.

In
the Lower 48, Bakersfield, Calif., Reno and Salt Lake City also had
their hottest July on record thanks to high-pressure ridges
that helped
temperatures soar and
break several daily heat records across the region. The hot, dry
weather also helped
fuel wildfires that
erupted and spread rapidly across the region.

Miami
was also record hot for
not just July but for any month, fueled both by the number of days
above 90°F (every day of the month but the last was that hot or
hotter) and the fact that temperatures stayed extremely warm
overnight.

Death
Valley, already known for its ferocious heat, took it to another
level in July, with an average for the month of 107.4°F, the
Washington Post’s Capital
Weather Gang reported.
Overnight lows were again a major factor, as they didn’t fall below
89°F on any night during the month there.

Three
nights actually had a low temperature between 102°F and 103°F.
Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist at the International Arctic
Research Center in Fairbanks, found this was the hottest month
recorded at any station in Global
Historical Climatology Network database
kept by NOAA.

The
heat out West pushed the temperature for the month for the contiguous
U.S. to 2.1°F above the 20th century average of 73.6°F. That
temperature kept 2017 just barely in second place for the year to
date, with a temperature 3.2°F above the average of 51.3°F for that
period.

How
year-to-date temperatures in states across the contiguous U.S. ranked
through July 2017.Click
image to enlarge. Credit: NOAA

The
cool start to August east of the Rockies, and the suggestion that
that pattern will continue for much of the month, could knock 2017
down to third place, Jake Crouch, a climatologist with the National
Centers for Environmental Information, said.

At
the state level, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida are all
having their warmest year to date. In April, aswath
of 14 states from
the mid-Atlantic to Texas was on record pace, but cooler temperatures
in May knocked several out of the running, though they are still
having their second or third warmest year on record so far.

While
weather patterns played a clear role in boosting temperatures in many
parts of the country, the overall rise in average temperatures caused
by greenhouse gas emissions has made record heat more and more likely
and record cold increasingly rare.

Every
month since December 2014 has had more record highs than lows,
according to Walton.